Three restaurants cease operations at CityStation West

TROY -- It was a fairly grim picture on Friday along Walter Uccellini Avenue as two of the business which opened up last year in CityStation West had already shuttered their doors while a third was on its way out.

A sign on the door of Paesan's Pizza, which has several locations around the Capital District, advertised Friday as its last day in business, while other establish adjacent to it had already closed down. A representative from the United Group, a local real estate company, was showing possible tenants around the space formerly occupied by Stir It Up Coffeehouse.

Walter Uccellini Avenue, the portion of Sixth Avenue named after the deceased president and CEO of the United Group, was also home to Marmore Café, which owner Moheb Habib said closed last week.

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There were a few factors as to why his business was forced to shut down, he said. One of them was his rent was set at $5,000 after renovations to the floor, ceiling and kitchen were completed by the United Group. He also said the seven months of construction on CityStation East, which is directly across from CityStation West, was a huge reason for the failure of the café.

"Sometimes we didn't even make $20 a day," Habib said, adding he had moved his business from the Quayside Building on River Street to the location on Walter Uccellini Avenue after 10 years of business. "We had good business when we first opened. Then the construction started."

Habib said he had no plans of opening another shop.

A request for comment from the United Group was not immediately returned.